A New Zealand data analytics company has created a smartphone app that it says can provide early COVID-19 detection by applying AI to biometric data from smartphones and wearable fitness devices.
The company, Datamine says the app, ëlarm, detects changes that occur as the body begins fighting the infection, and claims it has been able to detect infection up to three days before people experience symptoms. A “how ëlarm works page” on the elarm website provides detailed information.
Datamine CEO and founding director, Paul O’Connor, said: “Based on our New Zealand success and the extensive data we’ve gathered from clinicians around the world, ëlarm is an accurate predictor of viral symptoms.
Datamine says the app also provides links to relevant World Health Organisation and CDC guidelines and “enables people to proactively get tested and self-isolate before any symptoms appear.”
ëlarm is available from www.elarm.health, and from Google Play and Apple App Store. Usage incurs a monthly charge of $US4.50 after a seven day trial. When IoTAustralia checked for the app on Google Play Store on 25 January it showed the app has having been downloaded only 50 times since its release on 7 July 2020.
A business version, elarm Guardian is also available that supports centralised billing, support and user management.
Similar information is not available from Apple’s App Store, but the one review ëlarm had attracted complained about the lack of information in the App Store on the cost of using the app, suggesting this to be in breach of Apple’s policy.
Datamine, claims more than 20 years’ experience and to user its “150+ different solution types, including segmentation, profiling, churn detection and modelling, operational excellence, strategic direction and performance improvement,” to “deliver repeatable success across a range of industry sectors, such as banking, telecommunications, energy, retail, insurance, travel, FMCG, government and healthcare.”
